The Battle of El Alamein

The Battle of El Alamein, fought in the deserts of North
Africa, is seen as one of the decisive victories of World
War Two. The Battle of El Alamein was primarily fought between two of the outstanding
commanders of WorldWar Two,
Montgomery, who succeeded the dismissed Auchinleck,
and Rommel. The Allied victory at El Alamein lead to the retreat of
the Afrika Korps and the German surrender in North Africa in May 1943.

Rommel studying maps during the
battle at El Alamein

El Alamein is 150 miles west of Cairo. By the summer of
1942, the Allies were in trouble throughout Europe. The attack on Russia
- Operation Barbarossa - had pushed the Russians back; U-boats
were having a major effect on Britain in the Battle of
the Atlantic and western Europe seemed to be fully in the control of the
Germans.

Hence the war in the desert of North Africa was pivotal.
If the Afrika Korps got to the Suez Canal, the ability of the Allies to supply
themselves would be severely dented. The only alternate supply route would be
via South Africa - which was not only longer but a lot more dangerous due to the
vagaries of the weather. The psychological blow of losing the Suez and losing in
North Africa would have been incalculable - especially as this would have given
Germany near enough free access to the oil in the Middle East.

El Alamein was a last stand for the Allies in North
Africa. To the north of this apparently unremarkable town was the Mediterranean
Sea and to the south was the Qattara Depression. El Alamein was a bottleneck
that ensures that Rommel could not use his favoured form of attack - sweeping
into the enemy from the rear. Rommel was a well respected general in the ranks
of the Allies. The Allied commander at the time, Claude Auchinleck - did not
command the same respect among his own men. Auchinleck had to send a memo to all
his senior officers that ordered them to do all in their power to correct this:

"…(you
must) dispel by all possible means the idea that Rommel represents
anything other than the ordinary German general……….PS, I’m not
jealous of Rommel."

Auchinleck

In August 1942, Winston Churchill was desperate for a
victory as he believed that morale was being sapped in Britain. Churchill,
despite his status, faced the prospect of a vote of no confidence in the House
of Commons if there was no forthcoming victory anywhere. Churchill grasped the
bull by the horns./ he dismissed Auchinleck and replaced him with Bernard
Montgomery. The men in the Allied forces respected ‘Monty’. He was described
as "as quick as a ferret and about as likeable." Montgomery put a
great deal of emphasis on organisation and morale. He spoke to his troops and
attempted to restore confidence in them. But above all else, he knew that he
needed to hold El Alamein anyway possible.

Rommel planned to hit the Allies in the south. Montgomery
guessed that this would be the move of Rommel as Rommel had done it before.
However, he was also helped by the people who worked at Bletchley Park who had
got hold of Rommel’s battle plan and had deciphered it. Therefore ‘Monty’
knew not only Rommel’s plan but also the route of his supply lines. By August
1942, only 33% of what Rommel needed was getting through to him. Rommel was also
acutely aware that while he was being starved of supplies, the Allies were
getting vast amounts through as they still controlled the Suez and were
predominant in the Mediterranean. To resolve what could only become a more
difficult situation, Rommel decided to attack quickly even if he was not
well-equipped.

By the end of August 1942, Montgomery was ready himself.
He knew that Rommel was very short of fuel and that the Germans could not
sustain a long campaign. When Rommel attacked, Montgomery was asleep. When he
was woken from his sleep to be told the news, it is said that he replied
"excellent, excellent" and went back to sleep again.

The Allies had placed a huge number of land mines south of
El Alamein at Alam Halfa. German Panzer tanks were severely hit by these and the
rest were held up and became sitting targets for Allied fighter planes that
could easily pick off tank after tank. Rommel’s attack started badly and it
seemed as if his Afrika Korps would be wiped out. He ordered his tanks north and
he was then helped by nature. A sandstorm blew up which gave his tanks much
needed cover from marauding British fighters. However, once the sandstorm
cleared, Rommel’s force was hit by Allied bombers that pounded the area where
the Afrika Corps had their tanks. Rommel had no choice but to retreat. He fully
expected Montgomery’s Eighth Army to follow him as this was standard military
procedure. However, ‘Monty’ failed to do this. He was not ready for an
offensive and he ordered his men to stay put while they held a decisive
defensive line.

In fact, Montgomery was waiting for the arrival of
something that soldiers in the desert were only allowed to refer to as ‘swallows’.
In fact, they were Sherman tanks - 300 of them to assist the Allies. Their 75 mm
gun shot a 6lb shell that could penetrate a Panzer at 2000 metres. The 300 ‘Monty’
had were invaluable.

To cope with Montgomery’s attack, the Germans had
110,000 men and 500 tanks. A number of these tanks were poor Italian tanks and
could not match the new Sherman’s. The Germans were also short of fuel. The
Allies had more than 200,000 men and more than 1000 tanks. They were also armed
with a six-pound artillery gun which was highly effective up to 1500 metres.
Between the two armies was the ‘Devil’s Garden’. This was a mine field
laid by the Germans which was 5 miles wide and littered with a huge number of
anti-tank and anti-personnel mines. Going through such a defence would prove to
be a nightmare for the Allies.

To throw Rommel off the scent, Montgomery launched ‘Operation
Bertram’. This plan was to convince Rommel that the full-might of the Eighth
Army would be used in the south. Dummy tanks were erected in the region. A dummy
pipeline was also built - slowly, so as to convince Rommel that the Allies were
in no hurry to attack the Afrika Korps. ‘Monty’s army in the north also had
to ‘disappear’. Tanks were covered so as to appear as non-threatening
lorries. Bertram worked as Rommel became convinced that the attack would be in
the south.

At the start of the real attack, Montgomery sent a message
to all the men in the Eighth Army:

"Everyone
must be imbued with the desire kill Germans, even the padres - one for
weekdays and two on Sundays."

The start of the Allied attack on Rommel was code-named
"Operation Lightfoot". There was a reason for this. A diversionary
attack in the south was meant to take in 50% of Rommel’s forces. The main
attack in the north was to last - according to Montgomery - just one night. The
infantry had to attack first. Many of the anti-tank mines would not be tripped
by soldiers running over them - they were too light (hence the code-name). As
the infantry attacked, engineers had to clear a path for the tanks coming up in
the rear. Each stretch of land cleared of mines was to be 24 feet - just enough
to get a tank through in single file. The engineers had to clear a five mile
section through the ‘Devil’s Garden’. It was an awesome task and one that
essentially failed. ‘Monty’ had a simple message for his troops on the eve
of the battle:

"All
that is necessary is that each and every officer and men should enter
this battle with the determination to see it through, to fight and kill,
and finally to win. If we do this, there can be only one result -
together, we will hit the enemy for six out of Africa."

The attack on Rommel’s lines started with over 800
artillery guns firing at the German lines. Legend has it that the noise was so
great that the ears of the gunners bled. As the shells pounded the German lines,
the infantry attacked. The engineers set about clearing mines. Their task was
very dangerous as one mine was inter-connected with others via wires and if one
mines was set off, many others could be. The stretch of cleared land for the
tanks proved to be Montgomery’s Achilles heel. Just one non-moving tank could
hold up all the tanks that were behind it. The ensuing traffic jams made the
tanks easy targets for the German gunners using the feared 88 artillery gun. The
plan to get the tanks through in one night failed. The infantry had also not got
as far as Montgomery had planned. They had to dig in.

The second night of the attack was also unsuccessful. ‘Monty’
blamed his chief of tanks, Lumsden. He was given a simple ultimatum - move
forward - or be replaced by someone more energetic. But the rate of attrition of
the Allied forces was taking its toll. Operation Lightfoot was called off and
Montgomery, not Lumsden, withdrew his tanks. When he received the news,
Churchill was furious as he believed that Montgomery was letting victory go.

However, Rommel and the Afrika Korps had also been
suffering. He only had 300 tanks left to the Allies 900+. ‘Monty’ next
planned to make a move to the Mediterranean. Australian units attacked the
Germans by the Mediterranean and Rommel had to move his tanks north to cover
this. The Australians took many casualties but their attack was to change the
course of the battle.

Rommel became convinced that the main thrust of Montgomery’s
attack wouldbe near the Mediterranean and he moved a
large amount of his Afrika Korps there. The Australians fought with ferocity -
even Rommel commented on the "rivers of blood" in the region. However,
the Australians had given Montgomery room to manoeuvre.

He launched ‘Operation Supercharge’. This was a
British and New Zealander infantry attack made south of where the Australians
were fighting. Rommel was taken by surprise. 123 tanks of the 9th
Armoured Brigade attacked the German lines. But a sandstorm once again saved
Rommel. Many of the tanks got lost and they were easy for the German 88 gunners
to pick off. 75% of the 9th Brigade was lost. But the overwhelming
number of Allied tanks meant that more arrived to help out and it was these
tanks that tipped the balance. Rommel put tank against tank - but his men were
hopelessly outnumbered.

By November 2nd 1942, Rommel knew that he was
beaten. Hitler ordered the Afrika Korps to fight to the last but Rommel refused
to carry out this order. On November 4th, Rommel started his retreat.
25,000 Germans and Italians had been killed or wounded in the battle and 13,000
Allied troops in the Eighth Army.